Soapbox: The Feminist Foundation

Soapbox: The Feminist Foundation is a private funding organization which donates to promote feminist causes. The organization works closely with feminist activist Gloria Steinem, holds feminist camps, promotes feminist speakers, and seeks to “strengthen the individuals and organizations who are leading the way in feminism.” 1 Soapbox Inc., sister organization to Soapbox: The Feminist Foundation, claims to be “world’s largest feminist speakers’ bureau.” 2

At-A-Glance

Formation:

2014

Director:

Amy Richards

Location: New York, NY View on map
Tax ID: 46-4146072
Most Recent Filing: 2024
Budget (2024): Assets: $376,410 Revenue: $347,108 Expenses: $482,291

Contents

    The Feminist Camp

    Run by Soapbox Inc. and funded by Soapbox: The Feminist Foundation, the Feminist Camp has been conducting events since 2006. Soapbox Inc. founders Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner had been organizing feminist speakers for events on college campuses, but then created the Feminist Camp to bring feminists to a group of speakers instead. 3

    Makers

    Soapbox: The Feminist Foundation also funds and creates educational art, with a documentary planned called Makers, distributed by working with “schools and educators to implement the Makers material into their curriculum.” 4 The documentary has since been turned into a book written by Jennifer Baumgardner. 5

    Funding

    The Tides Foundation, a left-wing grantmaking organization with revenues in excess of $2.6 billion since 2007, gave the largest grant to Soapbox: The Feminist Foundation, giving $400,000 of the organization’s $830,000 revenue in 2022, for “Equity, Human Rights, and Economic Empowerment.” 6 1

    Artemis Rising, a film-making organization dedicated to “transforming the culture through media” whose films focus on “gender-bias, healing, trauma, mental health, addiction and women’s empowerment” gave Soapbox: The Feminist Foundation $150,000 in 2022. 7 1

    People

    Amy Richards is the president and treasurer of Soapbox: The Feminist Foundation. 1 Richards originally founded Soapbox Inc. along with Jennifer Baumgardner to facilitate their speaking tours, but then grew the organization to manage the events of a roster of feminist speakers. 2 Richards produced “WOMAN,” a series for Viceland, and was a consulting producer for an HBO documentary entitled Gloria Steinem: In Her Own Words. 5 Richards is a leader in the Third Wave Feminism movement, co-founding the Third Wave Foundation (now known as The Third Wave Fund), and co-authoring along with Jennifer Baumgardner the book Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism And The Future. 8 5

    Gloria Steinem, a prominent figure in the second wave feminism movement and pro-abortion activist, works closely with Soapbox Inc., and is a featured speaker of the group. 9 10 Steinem has a key role in the organization, listed in founding documents in 2014 under Summary of Direct Charitable Activities, which begins with the sentence “Movement Building: Working closely with Gloria Steinem.” 11 12

    Financial Statistics

    Total Assets

    Total Revenue

    Total Expenses

    YearTotal AssetsTotal RevenueTotal ExpensesFiling
    2024 $376,410 $347,108 $482,291 View
    2023 $463,432 $340,799 $517,164 View
    2022 $461,769 $830,438 $625,807 View
    2021 $436,044 $607,783 $377,370 View
    2020 $210,347 $211,727 $314,148 View

    Prior year filings: 2015, 2014

    Expenses Detail

    Employee Compensation

    Highest Earning Employees

    EmployeeTitleTotal Compensation
    Amy RichardsPRES & TREAS$77,307
    Gloria SteinemADVISOR$60,846

    Grant Activity

    All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $1,845,046
    • Number of Grants: 40
    • Number of Funders: 16

    Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $400,0002022 TIDES FOUNDATIONEQUITY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
    $250,0002021 TIDES FOUNDATIONEQUITY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
    $150,6002023 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $150,0002022 Artemis Rising FoundationSocial issues project
    $150,0002021 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $140,0002023 National Philanthropic TrustPUBLIC, SOCIETAL BENEFIT
    $60,0002024 National Philanthropic TrustINTERNATIONAL
    $30,0002024 Vitalogy FoundationGENERAL SUPPORT
    $25,0002022 Ms. Foundation for WomenGENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT
    $20,0002020 Ms. Foundation for Women
    $10,0002022 The Chicago Community TrustGeneral operating support
    $10,0002021 The Chicago Community TrustGENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT
    $10,0002021 National Philanthropic TrustPUBLIC, SOCIETAL BENEFIT
    $10,0002020 The Chicago Community TrustGENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT
    $8,0002023 The Chicago Community TrustGeneral Operating Support
    $5,6252024 Community of Literary Magazines & PressesNYSCA GRANT
    $5,5002024 Woodcock FoundationGENERAL SUPPORT
    $5,5002023 Woodcock FoundationGENERAL SUPPORT
    $5,0212020 Entertainment Industry FoundationGENERAL PROGRAM
    $5,0002025 Charles B Sweatt Foundation Wells Fargo DBAGENERAL OPERATING
    $5,0002024 Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncUNRESTRICTED GENERAL SUPPORT
    $5,0002023 Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncUNRESTRICTED GENERAL SUPPORT
    $5,0002022 Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncUNRESTRICTED GENERAL SUPPORT
    $5,0002021 Woodcock Foundation

    All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $94,878
    • Number of Grants: 19
    • Number of Recipients: 17

    Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $2,5052020 Tools & Tiaras Inc.GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT
    $1,0002020 A Long Walk Home Inc C/o Scheherazade TilletPASSED THROUGH FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOR NIGHT OF SOLIDARITY, DOMESTIC ABUSE AWARENESS
    $1,0002020 Break the CyclePASSED THROUGH FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOR NIGHT OF SOLIDARITY, DOMESTIC ABUSE AWARENESS
    $1,0002020 Sanctuary for Families IncPASSED THROUGH FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOR NIGHT OF SOLIDARITY, DOMESTIC ABUSE AWARENESS
    $1,0002020 Translifeline DBA Trans LifelinePASSED THROUGH FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOR NIGHT OF SOLIDARITY, DOMESTIC ABUSE AWARENESS

    Mentioned in this Article

    References

    1. “Soapbox the Feminist Foundation Form 990.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/464146072/202313199349106486/full.
    2. “Speakers.” Soapbox Inc. Accessed May 12, 2024. https://www.soapboxinc.com/about/.
    3. “History.” Feminist Camp. Accessed May 12, 2024. http://www.feministcamp.com/history.
    4. “Soapbox the Feminist Foundation form 990.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/464146072/202313199349106486/full.
    5.  “About the Author.” WE ARE MAKERS. Accessed May 12, 2024. https://www.wearemakersbook.com/about-the-author.
    6. “Tides Foundation Form 990.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/510198509/202333189349300213/full.
    7. “The Foundation.” Artemis Rising Foundation. Accessed May 12, 2024. https://artemisrising.org/the-foundation.
    8. Shaw, Susan. “Q&A: Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Manifesta.’” Ms. Magazine, April 23, 2024. https://msmagazine.com/2020/04/01/the-ms-qa-jennifer-baumgardner-and-amy-richards-on-the-20th-anniversary-of-manifesta/.
    9. “Speakers.” Soapbox Inc. Accessed May 12, 2024. https://www.soapboxinc.com/speakers/gloria-steinem/.
    10. “Affiliations.” Gloria Steinem. Accessed May 12, 2024. http://www.gloriasteinem.com/affiliations.
    11. Ms. Steinem’s CIA connection. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01315R000300380009-2.pdf.
    12. “The Feminist Was a Spy.” USC Center on Public Diplomacy, November 4, 2016. https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/feminist-was-spy.